Headlines

James Capretta

ObamaCare must be on the table in fiscal cliff negotiations

The hardest part of these negotiations will be the battle over entitlement reform. The bottom line for the GOP should be this: There should be no deal on long-term taxes without far-reaching reforms to health-entitlement programs. And what’s far-reaching? For starters, the entirety of Obamacare should be on the table for revision and retrenchment. The law sets in motion the largest entitlement expansion in a generation. It’s far better to scale the program back now before it gets started than to wait and hope it can be scaled back later.

Republican governors have substantial leverage in these negotiations because they can opt out of the Medicaid expansion in Obamacare, thanks to the Supreme Court. If 25 or so Republican governors refuse to put more people into an unreformed Medicaid program, it will put tremendous pressure on the Obama administration, which is desperate to see the Medicaid expansion occur during the president’s second term.

The congressional GOP should use this leverage to move Medicaid toward fixed financing and maximum state flexibility.

No increase in the debt cieling without a real written budget. Shut it all down.

Pass a Christmas bill ordering that the withholding tables be allowed to stay the same until the negotiations are settled. There is no reason that they have to change for the year on January 1. The democrats are using that point in the negotiations so they can blame republicans for raising everyone’s taxes in their paycheck. Rules can be changed. Obama does it all the time, if he cares he will suspend this rule, if he does not, he is a bastard.

There is no reason on God’s earth that it should cost so much money to implement health care that you have to buy yourself. I think Rush says they have already spent many times more than the cost of just writing everyone without insurance a tax credit and letting them buy what they want. They are megalomaniac micro managers. They have to cut costs now, they are operating like they have a blank check. And no one who didn’t have health insurance as of yet has been helped.